Pirates notebook
Tracy worries more about ‘the approach’ PITTSBURGH – A loss may be a loss to most managers, but Jim Tracy wasn’t thinking that way in assessing his Pirates’ 3-0 defeat against the St. Louis Cardinals at PNC Park on Monday afternoon.
“The approach is the most important thing,” Tracy said. “When you play the game with the right approach, day in and day out, most likely you’re going to be successful. We’ve done that so far. We’ve played seven games and we’ve been in position to win six of them.”
The approach Tracy is speaking of is playing good, hard fundamental baseball with a maximum effort each day, something he felt his team took awhile to grasp the first half of last year.
He sees a different mentality now than he did at the beginning of 2006, his first year with the Pirates.
For that reason, Monday’s loss in front of a sellout crowd wasn’t frustrating to him.
“No, I don’t think so. You have to give credit where credit is due,” said Tracy, tipping his hat to Cardinals starter Braden Looper. “We couldn’t get the hit against him to put us over the top. But this is just the first of 81 home games. As long as we continue to give the proper approach, as we have, to each game, then you can’t be frustrated.”
Cold bats
The Pirates came up with only three hits on Monday, which had a lot to do with Looper’s pitching, but also may have had a bit to do with the chilly weather. The temperature hovered just below 40 most of the game.
“It’s tough to feel really comfortable,” Bucs left fielder Jason Bay said of batting in cold weather. “It’s really mental. You have to go up there and get yourself in the right frame of mind.”
Tracy feels the pitchers almost always hold the upper hand when the temperature drops.
“Definitely the pitcher has the advantage,” Tracy said. “You don’t see as many effective swings now as you do in the summer.”
For that reason, Tracy isn’t panicking because clean-up hitter Adam LaRoche is hitting just .111 with two RBIs after seven games.
LaRoche was acquired in an offseason trade with the Braves for left-handed reliever Mike Gonzalez, who converted all 24 of his save opportunities in 2006 while compiling a 2.17 ERA. LaRoche hit .285 with 32 homers and 90 RBIs last year and is expected to add some much-needed pop to the Bucs’ lineup.
“He’s done an outstanding job defensively at first base for us,” Tracy said. “He’s going to do his fair share of damage offensively. You just keep sending him to the plate and let him do his thing.”
Carpenter out
The two teams play again today at 7:05 p.m. with Pirates’ Tom Gorzelanny (1-0, 3.60) facing Randy Keisler.
Chris Carpenter, the 2005 Cy Young winner, was slated to start for the Cardinals, but was put on the disabled list with an elbow injury on Monday, and Keisler was called up from Class AAA Memphis.
The three-game series ends with a 12:35 p.m. game on Wednesday with the Bucs’ Paul Maholm (0-1, 7.20) going against Adam Wainwright (1-0, 1.29).
The Pirates are off Thursday before beginning a three-game series against Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants at PNC Park on Friday.